By the letters: What's in a high school name?

COLUMBIA — Some came formally, typed on two pages with personal letterhead. Some came casually — an e-mailed sentence or a phone call. Some came the old-fashioned way, handwritten on stationery and sent with a postage stamp.

They all had one thing in common: names. Three rose above the rest, but only one will mark the entrance of Columbia’s new high school when it opens in 2013.